Author: Benji Ho

Campus Expansion

Last week, AUC broke ground for a new building on campus. It will be located at where the current basketball court is, replacing it. The green lawn in front of the main building will be flattened (currently it is a slope). The building has three levels above ground, which will house new small group study rooms, faculty offices, a new… Continue reading

AUC 2012 Commencement Ceremony

I’m watching the AUC graduation ceremony webcasted live going on right now! Congratulations to all the recent MD graduates. I know several people who are walking across that stage today, and thank you for being an inspiration for all of us in Basic Sciences and Clinical rotations! Looking forward to the day when it’s hopefully my turn to walk on… Continue reading

Thankful

I’d like to take a moment to express how thankful I am with my life right now. First of all, I am living with my wife, Irene, who makes me happy everyday that I’m with her. We both share similar experiences, as we both are students and roughly have the same schedule of going to rotations in the mornings and… Continue reading

Liquid Candy

We all know diabetes and obesity are rising health problems plaguing our country today. As a nation, our belt sizes are getting wider and wider. Sure, some of us blame McDonald’s or fried chicken, but I feel one thing we really need to change is our cultural perception that sodas are beverages. Sodas have become America’s number one source of… Continue reading

Psychiatry in the US vs. UK

Now that I have finished both a psychiatry core rotation at the Royal Blackburn Hospital in the UK as well as a psychiatry sub-internship elective rotation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Miami, I’ve come to understand the main similarities and differences between the practice of psychiatry in these two locations. While the diagnoses and treatments are more or less the… Continue reading

Internal Medicine Rotation in Miami

Hi everyone! I have just completed my first two weeks of my internal medicine rotation, with ten more weeks to go, and already, I’ve seen quite some interesting cases. I had the opportunity to see patients with enterocutaneous fistula, respiratory failure, COPD, crush injuries, hematemesis, among many. As my current attending is also in charge of the hyperbaric chambers here… Continue reading

Cost of Supplies

Hi everyone! Moving to a new place like St. Maarten and deciding what to pack from home can be a headache, especially if you are not sure whether you should buy something on the island when you get here or bring it from home. Luckily in St. Maarten, you can pretty much find most things you need. For those of… Continue reading

Traveling in the UK

There’s no doubt that coming to the UK for rotations is a unique experience, not only because of the well-known clinical learning opportunities of the UK teaching hospitals, but also because of the many great travel opportunities here as well. While my six weeks in the UK was shorter than how long most AUC students who come here stay, I… Continue reading

ECT

When my attending suggested that I go check out Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The first thing that came to my head was the disturbing scene in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest in which Jack Nicholson was restrained by a group of nurses and doctors and while consciously talking, and obviously unaware of what… Continue reading

Psychiatric Interviews for Teaching

The best way to learn how to interview psych patients is to see how others interview psych patients, and then trying it yourself, and you’ll have plenty of chances to improve your skill during your clinical rotations. I’ve found some useful examples of Psych interviews, courtesy of the University of Nottingham. Here are the videos in the series:
  1. Somatization
  2. Self
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Weekend in Scotland

Coming abroad to the UK for clinical studies, it’s difficult not to take advantage of the weekends to explore the country. Being in an age-old and dynamic place as the UK, the travel opportunities are endless, and relatively easy, with the extensive train networks and public transportation here. This past weekend, after a week of ward rounds, patient interviews, and… Continue reading

York

This past Saturday, my friend Sebastian and I took a 2-hour train ride from Blackburn where we were doing clinical rotations to the beautiful medieval city of York, in northeastern England. York was founded by the Romans nearly 2000 years ago, as the capital of Rome’s northernmost imperial reaches. The city was later conquered by the Vikings, and became the… Continue reading

English English

Being in England for a week already, I’m already getting a sense of some differences between American English and British English, particularly the English spoken in Blackburn, Lancashire. While I find myself putting a little more effort and focus into listening when other people are speaking, I find that adjusting to the English here hasn’t been as difficult as I… Continue reading